The Council on Gender Parity in Labor and Education’s mission is to recommend policies, strategies and programs that address gender-based barriers and encourage equal participation of students and workers in education, training, and employment.  The Gender Parity Task Force was first established by the SETC in 1993, and the Council was permanently established through legislation in 1999 (P.L. 1999, c.223). 

The Council is the only one of its kind in the nation and brings together representatives from business, education, and government to address barriers to full and gender-equitable participation in the workforce.  The SETC partners with the Center for Women and Work at Rutgers University to provide operational support to carry out program initiatives and day-to-day operations of the Council. 

The Council is legislated to consist of 17 members: six members are appointed by the SETC and six members are appointed by the Division on Women, with not more than half of these members being of the same political party.  In addition, five members serve ex-officio and are appointed by the Commissioners of Community Affairs, Education, Human Services, Labor and Workforce Development and the Executive Director of the Commission on Higher Education.  Dianne Mills McKay is Chair of the Council. 

 Key Action Items

On November 7th, 2009, the Council, with funding from the U.S. Department of Labor’s (US-DOL) Women’s Bureau, and in partnership with the Center for Women and Work, held a regional forum developed specifically to address resource and information needs for women.  The forum, entitled Economic Recovery: What Women Need to Know, brought together representatives from local, state, and national government to provide resources and referral, primarily to residents of Monmouth County.  Over 60 women and 16 speakers and resource providers committed a Saturday morning to placing specific information in the hands of women and to participating in an interactive and dynamic question-and-answer session.  Follow-up occurred both via group email and on an individual basis; in the weeks following the event, several speakers reported providing direct support to the women in attendance.  Plans are underway to replicate the forum in several other New Jersey regions.

In the spring of 2009, the Council presented findings from a study contracted to the Center for Women and Work at Rutgers University, on women in the New Jersey legal profession, both the climate in which they work and keys for their success.  The report, entitled Legal Talent at the Crossroads, continues to receive local, state, and national attention.  Based on this full report, the SETC prepared a companion piece and practitioners’ guide that was widely distributed to law firms, highlighting key actions firms could take in implementing the best practices described in the full report.  The Council plans to use findings from this research as a framework for examining workplace practices in other industry sectors.

In each of the past three years, the Council has brought together a diverse group of stakeholders to share perspectives and develop comprehensive and integrated recommendations for addressing gender issues in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and employment.  The Council focused its 3^rd annual conference in the spring of 2009, on emerging issues for women in transitioning their skills into employment in the emerging green workforce.  Findings and recommendations from the Summit are summarized in a series of reports entitled, Women in New Jersey’s Science and Technology Workforce Summit.  Planning for the fourth conference, scheduled for May 2010, is already underway.

In addition to the work described above, the Council will address the following program and policy issues in 2010:

 Apply a “gender lens” to the evaluation and assessment of federal, state, and locally funded workforce services:  In keeping with its decade-long role as an evaluator of the role of gender in employment and education, the Council is tracking data on current workforce needs and opportunities in New Jersey with a particular focus on industries identified for growth. 

Monitor and address the growth of “green” industries, as well as green jobs within existing industries.  Of particular interest to the Council are efforts to ensure that opportunities and benefits associated with the emerging green energy economy are received equitably by both women and men.

Use lessons from the health care field to inform policy recommendations with both industry-specific and broader workforce implications:  The well-documented under-representation of men in the nursing and health care support professions and under-representation of women as physicians has made health care a key workforce sector for Council consideration.  The Council identified growth areas in health care including electronic medical records systems, promotion of comparative effectiveness research, and interest in horizontal integration of services.  It anticipates and plans to track both opportunities and concerns in this arena, as well as strategies for ensuring that accessible career “ladders and lattices” to quality jobs exist.

 Assist in the identification and examination of successful supports for offender reentry, particularly for a growing population of women on parole and probation:  The Council is working to make permanent a pilot program that has successfully reduced recidivism among New Jersey women on probation or parole, by providing comprehensive and integrated reentry services at low cost.  

 Partner with veterans’ groups to address issues of concern to women veterans:  New Jersey is home to seven active military installations, and to a newly formed Commission on Women Veterans within the Division on Women of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs.  The Council will work with veterans’ groups at local, state, and federal levels to identify issues of concern to women veterans, particularly around employment and education needs. 

Support efforts to expose men and women to non-traditional career information, guidance, and practical experience at early ages:  Funded by the New Jersey Department of Education, the Nontraditional Career Resource Center (NCRC) is often described as the “practice arm” of the Council.  The goal of NCRC is to prepare women and men for careers in high-demand fields and to address gender gaps in the educational pipeline for such careers.